Officer Retention

[CR6]

I intended no offence to anyone, and I apologize for causing any.

None taken. You come across as a consumate pro.

Admittedly I don't have a formal study sitting in front of me stating that X-number/percentage of such-and such rated officers have taken their leave of the Army. But I have seen the official figures posted on these boards of junior officer classes who have taken their releases - the latest and most startling being that of the class of 2002 in which 57% of the Army's officers who entered that year have taken their releases. Undoubtedy that will include a good many of the best. It will be itnersting to see what the retention and release figures for the class of 2003 will be.

We are unlikely to get a formal report from the U.S. Army explicitly stating that it has lost either a significant proportion or even the bulk of its best young officers. But something much more substantial than just a bunch of horror stories about officer retention is going on.

This links to a JAN 2007 GAO report on officer accesions and retention. Without addressing the "quality" issue, there are some interesting stats on overall retention in various Fiscal Years by various year groups. Some precipitous spikes in departures, but overall decent retention by commissioning source overall. Very interesting to see the similarities in FY 2001 and FY 2005 on page 31.